
SYDNEY, 3 January, 2025: After winning the toss and deciding to bat, India today tumbled at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) all out for 185, in 72.2 overs, as the Australian bowling tsunami dismantled India, under the shadow of the ‘rested’ Rohit Sharma episode.
7 Cricket’s Justin Langer said on day one’s play, “It has been an amazing day of cricket. Even though India haven’t scored many runs, it feels like something could have happened every single ball. Because of that, we are used to seeing and judging a day’s play by the number of runs scored the boundaries hit. There have been few of those, and yet it’s been enthralling all day.
” We spoke earlier today about Scott Boland and the fact that when he takes a wicket, he can get them in clumps. A lot of that is because he is so consistent, and he asks questions right away. We saw that with Nitish Reddy. He has been in good form. First ball…out. I think, the hard part from a batting perspective today, is that the ball has done enough off the seam but it is the bounciest SCG wicket I have seen. I can’t remember a wicket here at the SCG being as bouncy as this today. There has been movement off the seam. The Australian bowlers have been disciplined all day. They have just given this Indian batting line-up nothing, said 7 Cricket’s Simon Katich.
Captain Rohit Sharma being ‘rested’ or opting out remained a talking point. “The bottom line is, the captain of a country does not opt out for the final test match, the final deciding test match of a series. He’s no doubt, he’s been dropped. And I don’t know why they just don’t say he’s been dropped,” former Australian Cricketer Mark Taylor told Triple M Cricket. (quoted by ANI)
The former cricketer added that Rohit has been missing the Sydney Test because of his poor form.
“It doesn’t mean he’s dropped forever. It means he’s missing this Test match because he’s been out of form. That’s not a crime. That’s unfortunately professional sport and that’s what’s happened. And Shubman Gill comes back in, and Krishna’s also in for Akash Deep. So a couple of changes for India, but what they’ve got to do is get it right because they’re going to bat well today and it’s not the world’s worst day of the bowl,” he added.
But speaking at toss, Bumrah said that Rohit opting to rest showed that there’s a lot of unity in the Indian squad. He added that there was “no selfishness” from the Indian batter. The talisman India pacer further added that whatever happens, it’s in the teams best interest.
“We’ve played some really good cricket in this series. The last match was pretty exciting. hopefully we can put up a good show. It seems to be some grass. It doesn’t look to have too many demons or look too spicy. Obviously there will be a challenge with the new ball but if you get through it’s always a god batting track. Our captain has shown leadership by opting to rest in this game. That shows there’s a lot of unity in this team. There’s no selfishness. Whatever is in the teams best interest we are looking to do that. Two changes, Rohit has opted to rest and Akash Deep is injured so Prasidh comes in,” Bumrah was quoted by ESPNcricinfo as saying.
Scores (ANI) – India: 185 all out (Rishabh Pant 40, Ravindra Jadeja 26, Scott Boland 4/31) vs Australia: 9/1 in first innings.